No. 3 Middlebury nips women's lacrosse team, 16-12

Mar 07, 2008

Thomas

Wagner

Maciewicz

LEWISTON, Maine -- Mimi Schatz scored four goals and added four assists to lead the No. 3 Middlebury College women's lacrosse team to a 16-12 NESCAC victory over Bates College in the season opener for both teams on Friday night.

Junior Caroline Thomas (Barrington, R.I.) scored four second-half goals for Bates, including back-to-back unassisted tallies that cut the Middlebury lead to 12-10 and a free position shot that cut it to 13-11. Thomas also recorded two assists on the day.

Katherine Entwisle added four more goals and an assist for the Panthers, while Amanda Smith came up with three goals and three assists.

Bates jumped out to an early 3-1 lead, scoring three unanswered goals from Wagner, Maciewicz and Howe after Caroline Kirkendoll opened up the scoring for the Panthers in the first minute of the game.

But Middlebury scored seven unanswered goals later in the first half, including two apiece from Sally Ryan (2 goals, 1 assist), Smith and Entwisle, and took a 10-5 lead into halftime.

Bates scored three straight goals to start the second half -- one each by Thomas, Wagner and sophomore Molly Radis (Peaks Island, Maine) -- to close the gap to 10-8. The Panthers padded their lead back to four with goals by Entwisle and Ryan, but Thomas answered with back-to-back unassisted goals in a span of 1:19 to cut the Middlebury lead back to two at 12-10. Less than two minutes later Thomas struck again with a free-position goal to make it 13-11 Middlebury, following a goal by Middlebury's Lindsay Winstead, which came on Smith's third assist of the night.

Schatz scored with under nine minutes to play, putting the Panthers up by three again at 14-11, but Howe snuck an unassisted tally to cut the Middlebury lead to two for the final time at 14-12. Entwisle and Schatz both scored in the final minute to salt away the victory for the Panthers (1-0).

Caroline Kirkendoll scored twice and added one assist for Middlebury. Blair Bowie came up with seven saves for the Panthers, while senior Katie Nickerson (Windham, N.H.) made 10 saves for Bates (0-1).

Bates will play host to No. 12 Babson College Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in a non-league matchup.